If the 6.5 Creedmoor accomplished anything, it was easing American shooters aversion to 6.5mm cartridges. The 6.5 Remington Magnum and 264 Winchester Magnum failed to catch on early in the game – though not all the blame can be laid on the 6.5mm caliber. U.S. shooters never truly warmed to the 260 Remington, nothing more than the 308 Winchester necked down to 6.5mm/264 caliber. Of course, venerable 6.5mm stalwarts like the 6.5x55mm Swedish Mauser, 6.5x54mm Mannlicher-Schoenauer, and 6.5x57mm Mauser were largely ignored by American shooters despite huge popularity across the pond.

The Creedmoor changed all that, making 6.5 cartridges from the AR-inspired 6.5 Grendel to long-range-targeted 6.5 PRC, 26 Nosler and similar rounds all the rage in the past decade. Bullet options in 6.5mm easily surpass truly American calibers such as 257 and 277. Given our newfound affection for 6.5mm cartridges, I’m making the case for the forsaken 6.5-06, a well-balanced, ballistically talented and easily created wildcat once chambered by A-Square, thus the common A-Square label.

Creating the 6.5-06 is as simple as it sounds – simply resize ultra-common 30-06 Springfield brass to 6.5mm without any additional changes. This creates a non-magnum, non-belted cartridge that nonetheless carries all the attributes of popular 6.5mm rounds and proves well suited for any North American big game from delicate pronghorn to bull elk with appropriate bullet selection. RCBS, Hornady and Redding supply the dies, so it is easy to get started. Any quality gunsmith can ream a 6.5mm barrel blank, fitting it to a long-action bolt gun that has outlived its usefulness, or one with a burned-out barrel.

This, as might be expected, isn’t a new idea. Charles Newton created the 256 Newton as far back as 1913, a true 6.5mm/.264-caliber round based on the 30-06 case, despite the confusing numbers. Newton’s cartridge varied only slightly from the wildcat 6.5-06 we know today. This round was chambered in fine Newton rifles, which went out of production in the early 1920s. Western Cartridge Company continued manufacturing ammunition for these rifles until 1938, at which time a commercial cartridge became a wildcat.

While the 6.5-06 sits neatly between the long-established and popular 25-06 Remington and venerable 270 Winchester, the 6.5-06 easily outperforms both through superior ballistic coefficients (BC), while also offering a wider spectrum of bullet options. In the big picture, the 6.5-06 equals the performance of the modern 6.5-284 Norma that is so popular with certain segments of the long-range crowd. It is only slightly less potent than the 264 Winchester Magnum, while enjoying longer barrel life.

The 6.5-06 easily handles bullets from 90 to 100 grains, all the way up to 150- to 160-grain, long-range numbers, given fast enough rifling twist. I’ve longed believed my 6.5-06 included a traditional 1:10 twist, but it shoots Berger’s newish 156-grain Extreme Outer Limits (EOL) Elite Hunter with sub-1-MOA accuracy, so I have begun to suspect my rifling twist is faster. That said, the rifle has shown an accuracy preference for 130- to 140-grain bullets.

My rifle, and the one used for testing, is a custom job built on an ancient Remington Model 30 action. It was rebarreled with a heavy E.R. Shaw barrel measuring 24 inches long, including a .90-inch muzzle diameter and was threaded to hold a Precision Hardcore Gear Slotted Hybrid Brake. A quality Timney Trigger was added, and the custom stock was carved from dense curly maple. The final weight is 12 pounds, which combined with the muzzle brake, makes it a pussycat to shoot with ample hearing protection. I added a Zeiss Conquest V4 6-20x 50mm scope in steel Talley rings to the two-piece Weaver bases. The modern, large-objective scope required the addition of a Beartooth Products neoprene/foam insert comb riser for comfortable eye alignment. I’ve always believed this rifle was originally built as someone’s idea of a long-range bench rifle, while I view it as a reliable pronghorn or “sendero” rifle.

As already mentioned, 6.5-06 cases are easily formed from readily available 30-06 brass, through 25-06 Remington, 270 Winchester and 280 Remington brass also serve well, and in fact, generally resize with less effort. My 6.5-06 brass came from Quality Cartridge, a company known for creating cases for obsolete, wildcat or obscure cartridges. I prefer this approach because these cases are properly headstamped and as a shooter who also owns 25-05 Remington and 30-06 Springfield hunting rifles, I thought it best to avoid confusion and potential problems with ammunition mix-ups. Overall, the Quality Cartridge cases have proven top-notch. All were trimmed to 2.494 inches before starting. My dies are an RCBS full-length set and Federal Ammunition Champion No. 210 Large Rifle primers were chosen for testing.

Previous 6.5-06 trials involved many target bullets and just a smattering of hunting slugs. Here, I wanted to work with various bullet designs targeted specifically for big-game hunting, as I’ve had a hankering to tote this rifle on a pronghorn or plains deer foray to take advantage of its long-range capabilities, or even give it a whirl during a cow elk meat hunt.